FanimeCon 2023 Merch is Here!
April 28, 2023FanimeCon 2023 official merchandise is has arrived! Orders can be picked up at the Fantastic Fam booth (Booth 602 in the Dealer’s Hall) or shipped to you. https://fani.mobi/40JrCfg
News
Do you excel in making your own J-Fashion accessories and garments? Do you always have a handmade touch to your coordinates? Sign up for The Atelier: Handmade Coordinate Contest, hosted by the J-Fashion Department in the Hyatt Place hotel on Saturday, May 27! Participants will be judged by a panel of industry professionals to win fabulous prizes donated by our generous fashion show brands. All J-Fashion styles are welcome to participate.
Contest Information
The J-Fashion Handmade Coordinate Contest is for any J-Fashion coordinate where the majority of clothing is handmade by the entrant. Participants may choose to either wear the coordinate themselves, or showcase the coordinate on somebody else.
Coordinates should be recognizably J-Fashion (including, but not limited to styles such as lolita fashion, EGA, ouji, mori-kei, decora, fairy-kei, gyaru, menhera, or wafuku). No cosplay entries will be allowed.
How To Participate
Registration: Sign up anytime before the event at the J-Fashion Info Desk located in the Hyatt Place hotel lobby.
Participant call-time is 7:00 pm on Saturday, May 27. Please check in at Hyatt Place Salon 1.
Participants will be asked to showcase their coordinates on the runway, and be able to explain how each piece was made. Contest entries will be judged on criteria such as craftsmanship, creativity, and skill level.
Have questions? Email us at jfashion@fanime.com
J-Fashion Presents – The Atelier: Handmade Coordinate Contest
Do you excel in making your own J-Fashion accessories and garments? Do you always have a handmade touch to your coordinates? Sign up for The Atelier: Handmade Coordinate Contest, hosted by the J-Fashion Department in the Hyatt Place hotel on Saturday, May 27! Participants will be judged by a panel of industry professionals to win fabulous prizes donated by our generous fashion show brands. All J-Fashion styles are welcome to participate.
Contest Information
The J-Fashion Handmade Coordinate Contest is for any J-Fashion coordinate where the majority of clothing is handmade by the entrant. Participants may choose to either wear the coordinate themselves, or showcase the coordinate on somebody else.
Coordinates should be recognizably J-Fashion (including, but not limited to styles such as lolita fashion, EGA, ouji, mori-kei, decora, fairy-kei, gyaru, menhera, or wafuku). No cosplay entries will be allowed.
How To Participate
Registration: Sign up anytime before the event at the J-Fashion Info Desk located in the Hyatt Place hotel lobby.
Participant call-time is 7:00 pm on Saturday, May 27. Please check in at Hyatt Place Salon 1.
Participants will be asked to showcase their coordinates on the runway, and be able to explain how each piece was made. Contest entries will be judged on criteria such as craftsmanship, creativity, and skill level.
Have questions? Email us at jfashion@fanime.com
Stage Zero Applications are Now Open!
February 06, 2023Stage Zero is now taking applications to perform for FanimeCon 2023! There’s space for all sorts of performances at Stage Zero, from dancing, musical performances, demonstrations, and more!
IMPORTANT: Stage Zero performers must be registered attendees or staff of FanimeCon 2023. Due to this year’s COVID-19 protocols, we will not be escorting performers who are unregistered to and from the stage. All performers will need to register for a FanimeCon 2023 badge.
Applications are due March 31, 2023. Check our page for more information!
Now Accepting 2023 Panel Applications!
February 04, 20232023 FanimeCon Open House: February 5th at the Guildhouse
January 13, 2023We are happy to announce the 2023 FanimeCon Open House!
At the Open House, we will pull back the curtain to show you how we make FanimeCon happen with an all-volunteer roster. Meet our dedicated staff, learn how we do what we do, and win some prizes too!
Hang out with us as we show you what it takes to put together FanimeCon – and how you can join our FanimeCon family.
(You can also join us now via apply.fanime.com and meet us on the day!)
The Open House will be held at the Guildhouse at 420 S 1st St, San Jose, CA 95113 on Sunday, February 5, 2023 from 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM.
Click here for directions to the Guildhouse.
See you there!
COVID-19 Vaccination Policy
January 04, 2023(Last updated: 03/13/2024)
This year, FanimeCon’s policies regarding COVID-19 are changing.
Everyone attending FanimeCon 2024 is no longer required to be vaccinated against COVID-19, but all attendees, guests, and staff are still required to wear a mask covering the nose and mouth in all indoor FanimeCon event spaces.
We would like to encourage everyone attending to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 before the start of con in order to be better protected. Please see the U.S. Centers for Disease and Control (CDC) for recognized vaccines to protect yourself and others when attending FanimeCon [link].
The rules may change based on new guidelines from federal, state, and local agencies. As a private event, we may enact stricter COVID-19 policies than are required. We ask for your help in following our COVID-19 policies and your understanding.
Indoor Masking Rules
- FanimeCon will require all attendees, guests, and staff to wear a mask covering the nose and mouth in all FanimeCon indoor event spaces.
- Prolonged periods of mask removal are not permitted for eating or drinking; the mask must be worn between bites, sips, and taking medication. Exceptions are allowed if you are inside personal hotel rooms, designated eating or drinking areas, or for FanimeCon performers actively on stage performing. Please follow instructions from stage show managers for additional policies if requested.
- For cosplayers with large helmets/cosplay masks, a mask must be worn underneath the cosplay.
- Please follow masking policies for restaurants and other spaces operated by our facility partners.
- Certain activities, departments, and/or events may have additional policies. Attendees, guests and staff will be required to follow any additional policies to participate in these activities, departments, and/or events.
Information on COVID-19-related refunds and rollovers:
FanimeCon tickets are not transferable or refundable. Examples of transfers or refunds include, but are not limited to: transfer of the ticket to another person, rollover of the ticket to the following year, being unable to attend FanimeCon, purchasing a ticket for a friend who is unable to attend, etc. Please see our Registration page for more information.
Vaccination Policy
Based on updated information regarding COVID-19 vaccinations as of November 8th, 2023, we no longer require COVID-19 vaccinations for Attendees, Guests, and Staff. However, we do encourage Attendees, Guests, and Staff to have at least one updated dose if they have been vaccinated for COVID-19 before. If they have not previously received any COVID-19 vaccination, they should obtain one of the following as per CDC recommendations:
- 1 updated Pfizer-BioNTech or updated Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, OR
- 2 doses of updated Novavax COVID-19 vaccine
We are no longer using WaitWhile to organize the FanimeCon 2022 Registration lines throughout the weekend due to technical difficulties.
Please follow staff instructions on how to line up to get your badge. The entrance to Registration and the vaccination check can be found at the entrance of the San Jose Convention Center on San Carlos by the Idea Tree and the FanimeCon dancing noodle.
FanimeCon 2022 will still be using WaitWhile for other events that may experience long lines, such as Panels, Black & White Ball, and Maid Cafe.
Welcome Back To FanimeCon 2022! We Missed You!
May 26, 2022Wow! It’s really been three years! We’ve all been through trials, tribulations, struggles, and so much more. This Memorial Day Weekend, at FanimeCon, we can finally come together as fans to celebrate what we hold near and dear to our hearts. What better theme to celebrate a homecoming than food?
Our excellent staff has worked diligently to serve you many of your favorite FanimeCon staples, such as Black & White Ball, Panels, Maid Cafe, Cosplay Gatherings, Artist Alley, Dealer’s Hall, and lots more fun stuff that you can find in your Program and Pocket Guides. We are also proud to announce that we have a lovely lineup of Guests of Honor, including a special guest who enjoys cooking food from different anime, Alvin Zhou!
While not all of our departments will be joining us this year (we’ve jokingly called it a “food coma”), we are delighted to present something brand new this year: J-Fashion! We’re excited to see what they have to offer on and off the runway – from the streets of Shibuya and Harajuku to the streets of Kyoto!
We are also proud to announce that our festivities include many Guests of Honor, who are joining us from around the globe, both virtually and in person! Our guests represent many aspects of the anime industry and fan community, from producers and voice actors to cosplayers and a certain special anime chef!
Finally, none of this could have been made possible without our amazing staff working hard behind the scenes to bring back a wonderful convention filled with a community willing to share their love for anime and Japanese culture! If you are curious about what the staff does or how we function to bring FanimeCon to life, please consider volunteering with us this year! You can learn more about volunteering here: https://www.fanime.com/about-us/volunteer/
And without further ado: welcome back, welcome home, おかえりなさい ! We hope you enjoy FanimeCon 2022 to your heart’s content!
COVID-19 Policy Update: Rollovers and Refunds
May 25, 2022We have updated our COVID-19 Policy FAQ to include information on rollovers and refunds.
Announcing FanimeCon 2022 Schedule, Hours, and More!
May 18, 2022We’re super excited that the FanimeCon 2022 schedule is now live! Check out all our events for 2022 at grid.fanime.com.
Due to the unique planning challenges this year, FanimeCon 2022 will not be a 24 hour event. We hope to return to our usual hours in 2023. Our modified hours are:
- Thursday May 26 (Day 0): 6:00 pm to 2:00 am
- Friday May 27 (Day 1): 9:00 am to 2:00 am
- Saturday May 28 (Day 2): 9:00 am to 2:00 am
- Sunday May 29 (Day 3): 9:00 am to 2:00 am
- Monday May 30 (Day 4): 9:00 am to 3:00 pm
Some events will not be in their usual rooms. A few events affected by this include Maid Cafe, all Panel Rooms, and Manga Lounge.
The following events or departments are sleeping for 2022, meaning they are not occurring or putting on events. We’re looking forward to their return in 2023!
- Asano Taiko USA
- Cosplay Chess
- Cosplay Workshop panels
- Fanime Music Videos (FMV)
- Fan Storage
- Fan Events
- Video
- Indie Video Games
- Meet the Guests
- MusicFest (But we still have a mini virtual MusicFest with Guest of Honor & 2.5D Musical Superstar Keisuke Ueda, who will be joining us for a virtual panel!)
- Masquerade/Cosplay Contest
- Silver Island
- Swap Meet
- Speed Painting
Please note that these events will be operating under a limited capacity:
- Info Desk (There is only one desk this year located in the SJCC near Stage Zero)
- Cosplay Gathering (All gatherings will be outdoors)
- Dance (Only one room this year in the SJCC Room 230)
- Lost & Found (Limited hours, located in ConOps at the Hilton San Carlos)
Despite these changes, we are happy to unveil a brand new department operating this 2022: J-Fashion! They will have two fashion shows, a trunk show, and lots of panels and events so please check them out!
While there are a lot of changes this year, there’s still a smorgasbord of things to see and do this year including: four panel tracks, all the events at Stage Zero, tons of exciting tournaments on our SAGE Stage, Artist Alley, Dealer’s Hall, Maid Cafe, the Black & White Ball, Karaoke, Speed Dating, our Charity Auction for the Make-A-Wish® Greater Bay Area, and so much more. This is the perfect year to try new things and make all kinds of new memories at FanimeCon 2022!
See you soon!